Tag: work

When I was younger, I could get away with pulling an all-nighter, eating like garbage, and never taking a break. As I get older, I find it’s much easier to burn out. I feel the effects of a poor diet or a late night, and I need the extra time to recover at the end of a long week. Over the past few months, I’ve been getting used to waking up at 5am, going to the gym, and then going to work for the day. I watch what I eat, generally avoid alcohol, and enjoy a few cups of delicious coffee...

Modern rocketry is a pinnacle of engineering. It requires the right balance of multiple systems, and a deep knowledge of scientific principles such as fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, and chemistry. But a huge part of the brute force science done in rocketry has been ‘try and fail.’ Countless rockets have exploded in tests dating back to the cold war, and even though they are much less frequent today, there is still value in learning from explosive and expensive mistakes. Here is a compilation of rocket failures and testing from the last 70 years. ….because sometimes you have a day where you...

In the world of science, there is no definite measurement. In any quantity, there is what we call an uncertainty. In a simple example, let’s say you were using a ruler to measure the length of a rope. You line up the rope along the ruler, and take a reading. But how sure are you that the rope was perfectly lined up with the end of the ruler? How certain are you that your reading was correct? There is always uncertainty. It extends more broadly in life. I’m at a point in my life where I’ve been in the working...

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” – Mike Murdock This morning was rough. Getting up at 5am was getting easier. Even though I was getting up in the dark, there would be a bit of morning twilight to greet me as I left my apartment, and by the time I left the gym, the full brightness of the day had arrived for my drive to work. I didn’t need to turn on the headlights for the drive, even in the rainy weather. The time change made it tougher. Suddenly I was up at what my...

As I move past week 8 of my new workout regiment, I find myself thinking about two things: I’m getting used to this workout, and need to spice things up I have a 10K run coming up in 10 weeks, and I have a goal time of 60 minutes. With a race and a major goal coming up, I am thinking about more specific training – to drop some weight, increase my stamina, and up my running pace. Combine that with the need to change up my workouts, and it’s time for a new routine. Adjusting the process can be...

We’re more than a week into the new year, and I’m sure some of you have already given up on your new year’s resolutions and goals. It happens, so don’t beat yourself up, especially since I consider failure part of the process. In fact, failure is a necessary step to reaching success. So often we see failure as the end, the stopping point in our goal, so we have to bring our effort to a halt and start again. But if there is one important lesson I’ve learned in the last few years, it’s that failure can’t stop anyone from succeeding. ...

I woke up at 5:30am this morning. It sucked. It was pitch dark but I had to get out and beat traffic. I fed the cats, got dressed, had breakfast, then drove to the gym for a 6am workout. Still dark. Finished my workout, had a shower, got back in the car, still dark out, and drove to work, sitting in traffic. People were cutting each other off, tailgating, and doing everything from eating to putting on makeup in the car. This is a normal day driving in Toronto, and I was thinking about how people curse and complain and...

There is no question that student debt is increasing. Since 2000, student debt in North America has grown by over 500%. Tuition goes up, cost of living goes up, and students end up with more debt. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if wages and salaries increased proportionately, but they don’t. There are also less jobs available for students when they graduate. So basically the cost of everything is going up, and when you finish school you have little hope of getting a good job in your field, and even if you do, you certainly won’t be paid an appropriate...

The old saying goes ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself.’ Many a person filled with hubris about their own abilities takes this too far and often ends up never trusting others to help or take on any challenge, no matter how small or insignificant. The real meaning behind this idea is that if you ‘have an idea in your mind about the way something should be done, do it yourself.’ This can lead to the founding of a successful business, if you take it along the lines of ‘if you found a better way to do something,...

There are times in my life when I work in overdrive. I give it my all for days or sometimes weeks at a time to get a major project done. My motivation comes from having a deadline, and combine that with the fact that I truly hate to lose, you end up with me working for every waking minute, while ignoring some of the other necessities. Projects around the house get sidetracked, sleep goes to the minimum I need to function, and I live at my computer. It can be tough, but I also love to revel in the glory of...